On December 16, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates issued a brief order dismissing plaintiffs’ constitutional challenge to Congress’ 2006 renewal of the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act in Laroque v. Holder, promising that an opinion explaining his reasoning would be issued shortly.

After Tuesday’s ruling in the Virginia challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the focus today shifts to a courtroom in Florida where Judge Roger Vinson will consider in a two-hour hearing claims brought by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and 19 other conservative state officials. (The Florida plaintiffs also include the National Federation of Independent Businesses and two individuals.)

For months, we at the Constitutional Accountability Center have been taking on Tea Party activists and their rampant distortions of the Constitution. We’ve explained that the Tea Party version of a virtually powerless federal government bears little resemblance to our actual Constitution and in many important ways is inconsistent with the real Constitution’s text and history. We’ve warned that Tea Party rhetoric, while evoking the spirit of our Nation’s Founders, in fact threatens some of the constitutional values Americans cherish most.

This week, the Government Printing Office published the official record of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing held last year for District Judge Andre M. Davis, nominated and since confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit .

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument yesterday in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the challenge brought by gay and lesbian couples to Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended the state’s constitution to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples only. After a marathon argument that went on for more than two hours, at least one thing seems clear: Prop. 8 will likely not survive its journey through the federal courts in California.

Marriage equality for same-sex couples will be front and center this Monday, December 6, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco hears oral argument in the appeal of the federal District Court ruling striking down California's infamous Proposition 8, a ballot measure that amended the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying. The argument will be broadcast live on C-SPAN starting at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific.